Hammer — Dosha Gogma Guts Powerhouse Meta

Overview

Pure raw Hammer Attack Focus for patch 1.041, built on Bound Admonition (Gogma Artian) with Lord's Soul (Guts/Tenacity) + Fulgur Anjanath's Will (Second Wind) rolled in. The thesis is the compression of 4 concurrent set bonuses via weapon-as-piece, with Guts covering the commitment of level-3 Big Bang charges — windows that used to be gambles become push opportunities.

What sets it apart from Gogma II AGI-WEX (comfort, high affinity): here the build accepts the Attack Focus -15% base aff in exchange for a maximum raw ceiling + the Guts safety net for aggressive chaining.

Core rotation

The loop is charge discipline — the combo choice is a function of the window:

• Window ≥4-5s. Full Big Bang: Level 3 Charged Upswing → Golf Swing → Upswing II → finisher.
• Window ≤2s. Spinning Bludgeon + Charged Follow-through.
• Predictable telegraph (roar, slam). Mighty Charge Upswing (Offset) — triggers Powerhouse I (+10 ATK) from Doshaguma's Might 2pc. Prioritize Offset over evade in these windows.

Focus Mode is mandatory for aiming at wounds: WEX 5 cap + CB 3 make every hit on a wounded part crit +50%, multiplied by +30% crit damage.

Structural thesis — weapon-as-piece

Bound Admonition counts as a piece toward set-bonus and group-skill thresholds. Without it, none of the critical bonuses would close on the 5-piece paper doll (1 Arkveld γ + 1 Nu Udra γ + 2 Gogmazios α + 1 Doshaguma β).

Double compression:

• Fulgur Anjanath's Will rolled as a set skill (2pc with Gogmazios Vambraces α) → Second Wind I, an extra stamina gauge for sustaining charges.
• Lord's Soul rolled as a group skill (3pc with Arkvulcan γ + Udra γ + weapon) → Tenacity/Guts, survive one lethal hit.

The roll pool is universal — any Gogma Artian rolls any set or group skill except Festival Spirit, Prayers and Master of the Fist. RNG is seeded by the base element. Hammer Attack Focus is pure raw (the element sleeps under the Attack Focus penalty), so the element choice follows the target monster's weakness, not the build's preference.

3 variants in the schema with distinct stats (-86: 200 raw / -10 aff; -87: 180 raw / +15 aff; -88: 190 raw / 0 aff). Variant -87 is canonical here — it offsets the Attack Focus -15% aff and lands at 0% display — but run the variant of whichever element matches your farm target.

Reinforcement — 3× Attack + 1× Affinity EX + 1× Sharpness EX

Config: 2× Attack III + 1× Attack EX + 1× Affinity EX + 1× Sharpness EX.

Reason: in the rage window the build saturates affinity via the WEX 5 + Maximum Might 3 + Agitator 5 stack — stacking 2× Aff EX becomes a diminishing return. Raw scales linearly and multiplies Crit Boost 3, always winning at the ceiling. Sharpness EX takes priority over III because long combos (Big Bang → Upswing II → follow-through) degrade sharpness fast.

Schema rule: maxPerBonusType applies only to the EX tier (max 2 EX per kind). III rolls count separately, so 2× Atk III + 1× Atk EX is legal and is the maximum possible raw.

RNG fallback: if Attack EX won't roll, substitute an extra Atk III (~8% DPS drop). Same for Aff EX → III, Sharpness EX → III. The thesis doesn't break.

Armor — choices and skill density

The central editorial decision of patch 1.041: Arkvulcan Helm γ over G. Rathalos β. Arkvulcan γ delivers WEX 3 + the Lord's Soul marker + the Arkveld's Hunger marker in a single piece (vs G. Rathalos β, which was WEX 1 + the Rathalos's Flare marker). Raising the natural WEX floor 1→3 frees 2 [3] slots that used to be forced onto Tenderizer.

Slot composition:

• Weapon [3,3,3]. Critical Jewel III + Attack Jewel III + Expert Jewel III — closes CB/Attack/Crit Eye at 3 each (3 independent multiplicative offensive layers).
• Chest (Udra γ) 2× [3]. 2× Tenderizer Jewel [3] — closes the WEX 5 cap.
• Legs (Gogmazios Greaves α) [3]. Flayer Jewel [3] — Flayer 1 (+25% wound proc), synergizing with Hammer impact damage + Arkveld's Hunger 2pc (regen on wounding).
• [2] utility slots. Earplugs Jewel [2] on head (EP1 immunizes against lv1 roars — each Big Bang charge lost to a roar = ~30s DPS) + Destroyer Jewel [2] on legs (Partbreaker 1, speeds up trinkets). The natural-cap [2] slots (Mighty + Flawless) go to mighty-jewel-2 and flawless-jewel-2 standard.
• [1] slot on legs. brace-jewel-1 (Tremor Resistance 1) — a positive defensive pick on Gogmazios and similar.

Editorial decision — Focus 0. Earlier drafts considered Focus 3 in the weapon slots. Final call: Focus affects charge speed (~30% reduction of Level 3) but doesn't compete on DPS ceiling with 3 multiplicative offensive layers. It aligns with the consolidated 1.041 meta (WEX 5 + Agitator 5 + Attack Boost before Focus in endgame).

Charm — Challenger III default, Golden Age optional

Challenger Charm III (Agitator +3) is a deterministic craft — it pairs with 2 natural Agitator (vambraces + greaves α) to close Agitator 5.

An upgrade via Golden Age Charm (Appraised RNG, an HR100+ drop or the Melding Pot) is optional, not a requirement. Rolls that replace Challenger III with a net gain:

• Rarity 8 — Agitator 2-3 + a Sharpness weapon skill + a [1] slot. Frees 1 weapon [3] slot, plus a sustained Sharpness gain.
• Rarity 5-6 — Agitator 1 + a [3] slot + any skill. Combines with a Challenger Jewel to match Agitator 3 and opens an extra [3] slot.

Don't farm the RNG before closing the rest of the build.

Native skills and buff cycles

Guts (via Lord's Soul 3pc) — survive one lethal hit. It flips the risk profile of level-3 Big Bangs: committal windows become push opportunities. Real trade-off: ~3 min cooldown between activations; a 2nd lethal inside that window is severe. Use Guts as a safety net for big commits, not for continuous aggression.

Second Wind I (via Fulgur Anjanath's Will 2pc) — an extra stamina gauge. With Constitution 2 (2× physique-jewel-1), it sustains 3-4 consecutive Level 3 charges with no pit stop.

Mutual Hostility I (Gogmapocalypse 2pc) — +element in rage. Here it's a sidekick: Hammer Attack Focus is pure raw, so the impact is modest. The real value of the rage window comes from Agitator 5 (+28 raw + 15% aff) + Maximum Might 3 (+30% aff at full stamina) — aligning the 3 buffs at the peak DPS is the time to chain 2-3 Big Bangs.

Peak Performance 3 (Gogmazios Greaves α) — +30 atk at full HP. Sustain via Hasten Recovery (Arkveld's Hunger 2pc, regen on attacking) + Guts + Constitution 2 keeps HP full for a larger % of the hunt.

Matchups

• AT Arkveld. Dream matchup. Clear hitzones for WEX 5, the aggro sequence triggers consistent Offset Upswings, and Guts covers the variant's characteristic one-shots.
• AT Gogmazios. Good. High wound generation for WEX, stable Powerhouse I via Offset.
• AT Jin Dahaad. Decent. A generalist Hammer doesn't lose much by not exploiting fire element, and EP1 absorbs the frequent lv1 roar.
• AT Nu Udra. Good against the tentacles (impact damage), but the low hitrate on the central body limits Guts triggers.

Team synergies

• Hunting Horn with Attack Up (L). Amplifies multiplicatively with Agitator 5 + Max Might 3 in the rage window (+10% raw); Guts allows overcommitting with no fear of a one-shot.
• Lance/Gunlance Offensive Guard. Redirects aggro, freeing the Hammer for safe Level 3 Big Bangs.
• Avoid 2× Hammer. Head-stun competition; the monster stays staggered without useful DPS upkeep.

Farm path

• Bound Admonition (variant -87 preferred) — AT Gogmazios. Re-roll until it matches Fulgur Anjanath's Will + Lord's Soul + 3× Atk + 1× Aff EX + 1× Sharpness EX.
• Arkvulcan Helm γ — AT Arkveld (Freedom from Solitude event, patch 1.041).
• Udra Miremail γ — AT Nu Udra.
• Gogmazios Vambraces α + Greaves α — AT Gogmazios (shares the weapon farm).
• Doshaguma Coil β — Tempered Doshaguma HR50+.
• Decorations. 3× weapon decos [3] (critical/attack/expert), 2× tenderizer-jewel-3, 1× flayer-jewel-3, 1× mighty-jewel-2, 1× flawless-jewel-2, 1× counter-jewel-2, 1× earplugs-jewel-2, 1× destroyer-jewel-2, 2× physique-jewel-1, 1× brace-jewel-1.

Target profile

A generalist endgame AT pick for patch 1.041 — AT Arkveld as the priority, AT Gogmazios, AT Nu Udra, AT Jin Dahaad. Hammer Attack Focus has no competitive elemental DPS variant in the current patch; raw is the way.